Extensible racks for ties or the like



y 1960 5; J. STEVEN 2,937,911

EXTENSIBLE RACKS FOR TIES OR THE LIKE Filed Oct. 17, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 24 gi" 9 23 .T'; 3 25 I 5 I l 25 25 :1 Q l l I ll U/ 17 25 I: Q t d 25 9: l N 4 1 ll /8 a :51 I \I [I i l :H: 2

'INVENTOR.

May 24, 1960 S. J. STEVEN EXTENSIBLE RACKS FOR TIES OR THE LIKE Filed Oct. 17, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR United States Patent EXTENSIBLE RACKS FOR TIES OR THE LIKE Steven J. Steven, 3422 McCormick Ave., Broolrfield, Ill.

Filed Oct. 17, 1957, Ser. No. 690,718

Claims. (1. 312-312) The invention relates to extensible racks for articles of apparel and is particularly directed to extensible and retractable devices for holding ties or the like, and which is associated with upright furniture units.

It is an object of my invention to provide extensible racks or display devices for holding small articles of apparel such as ties, in which the articles will be in full view and accessible and which devices are retractably mounted on an upright furniture unit.

A further object of my invention is the provision of racks of the type described in the preceding paragraph, and which have a stationary track or guide means, and a rack-mounting bar slidably engaging said track for selective retraction and projection with respect to a furniture unit, and which includes releasable means for locking the bar and rack in upper projected positions.

A further object of my invention is a selectively projectable and retractable tie rack, in combination with a dresser or the like, which is adapted to hold ties in full view and unwrinkled; which provides for easy selection of the ties, which avoids interference with other articles of stored apparel; which utilizes space which is normally unused; and which provides selective means for making the ties easily available.

Further objects of the invention not specifically mentioned here will be apparent from the description and claims which follow, reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which the preferred embodiment of my invention is shown by way of example and in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation, with parts broken away, and illustrating my extensible article holding rack in extended position and mounted with respect to a typical dresser.

Fig. 2 is a side view looking at the left of Fig. 1 and illustrating the holding device in retracted lowered position adjacent to the rear of the dresser, and illustrating the normal projected position in dotted lines.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectionalfragmentary view taken on a horizontal plane indicated by line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary and partially cross sectional view taken on line 44 of Fig. 1, and illustrating portions of the guide track means and the extensible bar and of the spring latch and stop means to limit the projecting movement.

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of a modified form of my invention, with parts broken away and in cross section,

Q and illustrating the article-holding rack in extended position.

Fig. 6 is a side view, with parts broken away and looking at the left side of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of one of the stop means for selectively limiting movement of and holding the holding-rack in desired positions.

On the drawings:

Numeral 10 generally designates an upright upwardly exlending furniture unit which in the preferred form illustrated'is a dresser, having a pair of vertical side walls 11 and 12 connected by front frame 13, which de- 2,937,911 Patented May 24, 1960 fines a plurality of drawer openings, and by a vertical rear wall or back 14, said side panels or walls 11 and 12 and said front frame and rear panel or wall 14, which are preferably of wood or metal, are secured together by cement, nails, screws, or other conventional fastening elements. Dresser 10 has a flat top or upper connecting horizontal wall 15 at the desired height, and a plurality of drawers 16 are slidably mounted in the inside rails (not shown) of the dresser in the usual manner. Numeral 19 designates a vertically extending metal channel bar or guide track of 0 cross section, as illustrated in Fig. 3.

Said bar 19 forms a guide track and has the central portion of its upper end slit and bent inwardly to form a short inwardly extending lug or stop member 20, as illustrated in Fig. 4. Said channel or guide track 19 is secured in vertical position by screws, partially illustrated in Fig. 2, to the rear wall or panel 14 of the dresser.

Numeral 17 designates an apertured metal wing channel of cross section as shown in Fig. 3, which is of a length substantially equal to the height of the rear wall 14, and which is in side elevation in Fig. 4. Said wing channel 17 is secured by a plurality of screws 18 to cross bars 25 respectively.' Channel 17 has an integral inwardly extending lug or abutment 22 thereon, preferablyformed by punching inwardly a part of the channel a short distance from its lower end, as illustrated in Fig. 4.

Secured by screws or the like on the middle portion of bar 17 is an angular metal leaf spring 21 which has its lower free end bent angularly, as illustrated in Fig. 4,.

and it forms a part of a releasable locking means for holding the rack in upper elevated position.

Said abutment or lug 20 forms a stop means which is engaged by the lower end of spring 21 when the channel bar 17 is raised to uppermost position to releasably prevent said bar and attached parts from falling downward along said track 19 by gravity.

As illustrated in the upper portion of Fig. l, the upper ends 44 of side flanges of channel bar 17 are bent at right angles and each thereof is apertured and has a screw 45 mounted therein, which screws are threaded into the intermediate portion of an upper transverse board or strip 23, which is preferably of a material and finish corresponding to the top of the dresser. Top strip 23 prefer ably has a suitable handle 24 secured thereon by a screw- (not shown) which in the preferred form is a knob.

A plurality of horizontal bars 25 are secured by screws in vertically spaced apart position on channel bar 17, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. These horizontal bars 25 preferably have their opposite free ends bent upwardly, to prevent ties or the like from slipping off. A panel 26 of rectangular shape, and which is preferably of fabric,"

cealed position, as illustrated in full lines in Fig. 2, to'

uppermost projected position, as illustrated in Fig. l, to be releasably held in upper projected position by the engagement of spring 21 with lug 20, to thereby hold or display the ties or other articles to full view.

Retraction to lowered concealed position is accomplished by release of the spring 21 and a pushing down of the bar 15 and its attached parts.

When the rack is to be raised from substantially concealed position behind the dresser, the user will merely grip the handle or knob 24 and pull the rack upwardly until the stop lug 22 engages the member 20 and at which time the lower end of spring 21 moves above the stop member 20 to prevent gravity descent of the rack.

'hen the user desires to lower the rack and its bars and ties or other articles held thereon to concealed protected position, he will manually press against the forward face of the latch or spring 21 and permit gravity descent of the rack, as in such depressed position the free end of spring 21 will slide by the end of extension metaber 20.

In Figs. 5, 6 and 7 I have illustrated a modified form of my invention in which the dresser 10 is illustrated and wherein the side walls 10 and 11 thereof each have a recess 28 at the upper rear corner thereof, as illustrated in Fig. 6.

Said dresser 10 has a connecting top wall which is narrower than the said side walls as illustrated, and has a stationary connecting rear wall 35 whose lateral edge is shown in Fig. 6.

Numeral Z9 designates a substantially rectangular rack or frame preferably made of Wood or metal and which is a modification of the movable holding rack previously described. Said frame 29 comprises 2 parallel side rails 30 and 31 connected by upper and lower connectinglbars 32 and 33 respectively, which are secured to the ends of side racks 30 and 31 by screws, nails or equivalent fastening element and preferably with the aid of triangular blocks or braces 34 secured by cement or nails in the four corners of the frame.

A plurality of horizontal cross bars 43 are secured in spaced apart relation by mounting their ends in vertically spaced holes formed in side rails 30 and 31 as indicated. Said cross bars 43 are adapted to hold ties or other small articles of apparel thereon.

As illustrated in Figure 6, the rear edge portion of the side walls 30 and 31 are connected by a rear panel or wall 35 to thereby form a vertically extending compartment which opens at the top.

An inner vertically extending panel or partition 41 is secured between the dresser side walls 11 and 1 2 by having its lateral edges suitably secured, for example by cement (or by conventional fastening elements) to the inner face of side walls 11 and 12. respectively. Said inner partition 41 is parallel to the rear wall 35 and spaced therefrom so that a vertically and transversely extending chamber or compartment is provided by the said inner partition 41 and rear wall 35, and said display and holding rack or frame 29 is guided in its vertical movement by said wall 35 and inner partition 41.

As illustrated in Figures 5 and 6, a pair of substantially right angled flexible metal latches 37 and 38, which are apertured at their lower ends, have their lower ends secured by screws to the inside faces of the side rails 30 and 31. Said side rails have transverse slots or openings 39 formed therein, and the angularly extending portions or latches 37 and 38 extend through said slots 39, as illustrated in Figure 5.

Said metal latches 37 and 38 have a limited degree of flexibility and spring-like tension, and when the rack is raised to uppermost position, the horizontally extending ends thereof move into positions over the upper edges of the side walls and engage such wall edges to thereby hold the rack or frame in uppermost position as illustrated in Figure 5. I

When it is desired to lower the rack with its articles thereon, the user will depress inward the flexible latches 37 and 38 a distance sufiicient so that the free ends of said latches will slide downward along the inner faces" of side walls 11 and 12, and the rack may be lowered to the normally concealed position shown in Figure 6, and in which position the upper face of the rack Will-be flush with the top face of the dresser.

As shown at the left of Figure 6 and in the enlarged view of Figure 7, a stop member or lug 40 is secured by a screw 42 on the middle portion of the inside face of the rear wall 35 a short distance from the upper edge of said wall (see Figure 6). Said stop member 40 is engaged by the lower bar 33 when the rack is raised to limit the upward movement and always maintain a portion of the rack in a substantially vertical plane between the side walls 11 and 12.

It will be apparent that my invention provides a highly advantageous and novel means and mechanism for selectively holding and displaying apparel articles such as ties in full view above a dresser or the like, and which may be quickly and easily lowered and retracted to the concealed point of the two positions hereinbefore described.

As many changes could be made in the above construction, and as many apparently widely different embodiments of my invention within the scope of the claims could be constructed without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. In combination with a dresser or the like having vertically extending side wallsand connecting rear wall; a guide track secured on said rear wall and extending substantially to the top of said rear wall; a slidable bar; projecting members secured on the outer portions of said bar; said projecting members slidably engaging said guide track to thereby mount said bar for vertical slidable movement; a plurality of transversely extending spaced apart cross rods mounted on the upper portion of said bar and adapted to hold articles of apparel thereon; and releasable locking means for selectively holding said bar and rods in upwardly extended position above the said dresser.

2. In combination with an upright article of furniture adapted for storing clothing or the like; said furniture article having side walls, top wall and rear wall connected together; a substantially vertically extending guide rail secured on the middle portion of the rear wall of said furniture article; an extensible and retractable slidable bar telescopically engaging said guide rail; a projecting lug on said guide rail; a plurality of vertically spaced cross rods secured on said bar; said cross rods being adapted to hold small articles of apparel; said bar and rods being selectively retractable to normally concealed position behind said furniture article, and a spring on said bar for releasably engaging said lug to hold said bar and cross rods in upper position.

3. In combination with an upwardly extending furniture unit having a substantially vertically extending rear wall and side walls and a fiat top connecting said walls; a substantially U shaped channel-like track secured on the middle portion of said rear wall; said track having oppositely extending lateral integral flanges; said track being securable on the rear wall of said furniture unit; a projecting lug on said track; a substantially U shaped channel member telescopically and slidably engaging the flanges of said track; a plurality of vertically spaced article-carrying cross bars secured on said channel; said channel and said cross bars being retractable to lowered position adjacent to the rear wall of said furniture unit, and a spring on said channel member adapted to engage said lug to hold said member and cross bars in elevated position.

4. An extensible and retractable device for suspending small apparel articles substantially as described in claim 3, said channel member having a transverse cross bar on its upper end, said cross bar being adapted to be mounted in lowered position in a plane alignment with the upper face of said furniture unit.

5. In combination with an upwardly extending furniture unit having a substantially vertically eXtending'rear wall and side walls and a fiat top' connecting said walls; a substantially U shaped channel-like track secured on the middle portion of said rear wall, said track having oppositely extending lateral integral flanges; an angularly projecting lug on said track; a substantially U shaped channel membertelescopically and slidably engaging the flanges of said track; a plurality of vertically spaced article carrying cross bars secured on said channel; said channel and said cross bars being retractable to lowered position adjacent to the rear wall of said furniture unit; and a spring on said channel member adapted to engage said lug to hold said member and said cross bars in ele- 5 vated position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 28,263 Shafi Feb. 8, 1898 6 Martin Ian. 27, 190-3 Dickensen Oct. 7, 1913 Bertani May 21, 1929 Chandler Apr. 12, 1932 Hoobler Sept. 16, 1941 Harris May 19, 1942 Mestel et al Aug. 29, 1944 Davis Oct. 4, 1949 Keck April 22, 1952 

